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I’ve considered deleting this blog altogether, but it is such a nice, healthy outlet. It’s funny how that parallels my feelings about therapy. Lately, I’ve been considering stopping my weekly runs to see a therapist; but have yet to pull the plug because it’s a positive, mindful place to be. Also, I feel like if I stop going, I’m going to regret it and be screwed into dealing with my anxiety and over-thinking by myself.

Anyway, I digress. Lately, I’ve been thinking about Starting a Podcast. Podcasting is to radio as blogging is to the opinions page in the newspaper. It’s totally grassroot, mostly free and you can do/say whatever you want. Since I’ve been thinking about starting a podcast, this is what I would talk about in my podcast this week:

The story is these five baby girls were born in 1934, and were the first recorded occurrence of quintuplets surviving infancy. The Canadian government took guardianship of the quints shortly after their birth, claiming their parents unfit to care for the five babies. The government built “Quintland” across the street from the girls’ family home and made the everyday lives of the infants/babies/young adults into a tourist attraction. There were souvenirs and viewing areas at Quintland. The girls were surrounded by scientists, doctors, nurses and the curious public FOR YEARS! At one point, Quintland was more trafficked than Niagara Falls. So basically – the Canadian government profited from their lives. After many years, and a custody battle, the girls were released back to their parents, where they claimed their father sexually abused them (though, later in life, they disputed these allegations). They all moved out of the home at 18 and 2/5 died in early adulthood – one from a stroke and one from a seizure. Another passed away in her 60s from cancer. There are only 2 remaining sisters alive and NO ONE HAS MADE A MOVIE ABOUT THIS! There were a couple television movies from what I can gather, and maybe an old movie, but HELLO! We need to hear/see this story!

I went antique shopping over the holidays – searching for Christmas presents. It got me thinking about the massive amount of things in the world. So many THINGS. And I love things, but where do they go and what happens to these things. I’m also reading a book, The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal, which discusses this a bit so far. What is my role in things? Do things have to be tied to consumerism?

Upcoming vacation in Hawaii with my sister, who is in Afghanistan right now

Over cards with friends, the subject of wolf fish lurking in the bottom of lakes in the North East came up. I have never heard of such fish, so upon returning home, I promptly Googled the finned creature. They are ugly and scary and take a look at those teeth!

I can’t imagine having this prowling in the same body of water where I was swimming. However, in my search for a photo, I came across goods made from the skin of the wolf fish, and I am in awe. I just love the look of the leather; the pattern and the colors!

Shoulder Bag

Flask

Runners

Cuff

I’m not super into wearing animal hide (minus a few rad leather bags) but, I’m pretty sure I could rock the look of the wolf fish.

Whilst messing around with the sewing machine that I know how to use now, and mostly trying to stitch (and iron) straight lines, I happened upon a relatively easy project. I made a small doorway curtain for my kitchen. I picked up some cheap, discarded fabric at Joanne’s and got to work. Well, before I got to work, I also spent $8 a spool on thread not realizing how expensive it was. I think I grabbed the wrong “grade” thread. Like — I’m not trying to spend that much money on practice rounds — but whatevs. Here’s how it turned out:

**please note the GOLD thread — which is how it should be, considering the price.

I finally learned to sew! I got a machine for my b-day (back in October), and recently my mom came into town and showed me how to use the thing. I’ve been busy stitching ever since.

My first project involved making some fabric panels for basic IKEA Expedit shelving. I found the fabric a few months ago at Cliff’s Variety Home Store in the Castro. I couldn’t believe it because it had brown, red, pink, orange and purple — all the colors in my living room, and a neat design:

For months, it was draped over the shelves but now:

Perfect panels — velcro’d to the top lip of the shelves. It’s much easier to access and it’s sharper! The lines aren’t perfectly straight, but you can’t really tell from far away. And check out how awesome it looks with the Andy Warhol print… couldn’t have planned it any better!

I came across artist Bibi Carton on another blog; her stuff is really neat. She makes usable furniture out of cardboard.

I have seen cardboard furniture before but Bibi Carton maintains the integrity of the cardboard in a lot of her pieces, so you can actually tell it’s cardboard. Also, it’s not carved, it’s actually constructed, which seem really difficult. Her seams are seamless (!) and I love the painted designs, drawers and details!

I recently had the privilege of experiencing what has got to be kitschiest place on Earth — the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. My friend has been obsessed with this mecca for some time. I have no idea how she heard of it, but we saved our shekels and traveled down CA-1 to stay for a night in the acclaimed Inn.

The Hotel has 109 rooms, all hosting a different theme. The most popular is the “Jungle Room.”

We were really hoping for that one, but I think we checked in to late. On the way down, my friend, Lindsay, convinced us all that she “would do the talking” when we arrived at the hotel. She believed she had the knowledge to save us around $20 total. After listening to her 5 minute pitch on why we should let her do this, we were pretty sure she would be able to handle this task. When we got there, she walked with authority to the reservation counter and began her deals with the bell-hop. When all was said and done, we each ended up paying $30 more. That’s the last time we let Lindsay try to bargain. However, we landed in a luxury suite, called “The Traveler’s Suite.”

Ashley and Emily enjoying wine by the fire in the complimentary pink bath robes.

Ornate lamps in our room.

Seriously though, the most interesting part of the room was the toilet. It was a bidet, with a heated front and rear stream, which were both power adjustable. I had never used one before, but the idea of conserving toilet paper by using a bidet has always sort of appealed to me. The seat was heated too, which really ruled! Overall – I was impressed with the contraption. It wasn’t really as intrusive as I was expecting.

Cutesy patio furniture.

Beautiful (heated) pool!

The whole trip was totally fun and relaxing. Unexpectedly, San Luis Obispo is a really cute college town and they had a hoppin’ farmer’s market the night we were there, which was really quaint.